AZED No. 2,075 Plain
Posted by The Trafites on March 18th, 2012
Nick: Average Azed this week, 7/10 for me.
I am not sure about how ‘SA’ in 20dn works (if I am right), nor the definition in 3dn.
31ac is being too clever for it’s own good, I feel.
Having said that, there are some very nice misleading definitions in this puzzle, always a joy to solve.
BTW, this time next week, The Trafites will be on holiday for 8 days in Gibraltar – I lived there for 2 years (1969-1970), and decided to go back again for old times sake before I snuff it, so unfortunately I will not be available to reply to comments until a week later.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Bomb exploding caught rear (5) | ||
| CRUMP | C+RUMP | ||
| 5. | Teller of epic tales from Senegal about lizards (7) | ||
| SAGAMAN | AGAMA in SN | ||
| 10. | Kiss given by nasty smoocher (not the first) causing colouring in the dairy? (10) | ||
| LIPOCHROME | LIP+((s)MOOCHER*) | ||
| 12. | Ornaments may be set out on it, following silly urge I assume (8) | ||
| GUERIDON | (URGE*)+I+DON | ||
| 13. | I’ll be taken in by eccentric Scottish tinker (5) | ||
| CAIRD | I in CARD | ||
| 14. | Stingy, I’ve dismissed price (4) | ||
| COST | COST(ive) | ||
| 15. | Velocity in boat (flat-bottomed) giving chance for Jock (5) | ||
| KEVEL | V in KEEL | ||
| 16. | Salt at sea let auto (7) | ||
| TOLUATE | (LET AUTO)* | ||
| 17. | We scattered seeds round centre of tilth, typical of best gardens (8) | ||
| WEEDLESS | WE+((SEEDS*) around (ti)L(th)) | ||
| 22. | Dies wretchedly after fall, once oedematous (8) (8 | ||
| DROPSIED | (DIES*) after DROP | ||
| 24. | Anteater cross about e.g. worker density? (7) | ||
| TAMANDU | TAU(a cross) around (MAN+D) | ||
| 26. | Urban company retains such money in accounts (5) | ||
| BANCO | hidden: urBAN COmpany | ||
| 28. | Primitive dwelling like a sieve, rate-free (4) | ||
| CRIB | CRIB(rate) | ||
| 30. | Street, old, with excellent porticos (5) | ||
| STOAI | ST+O+AI | ||
| 31. | Henry’s urgent call: ‘Give us dinner with potato, properly prepared meat and eggs’ (8) | ||
| HALLALOO | 2 subs. ind. here: The misleading definition is (hooray) Henry’s urgent call (i.e. call the hounds at a hunt); (1) HALL+ALOO; (2) HALLAL+OO really, the subs. ind. lead to ‘HALLALOOHALLALOO’ – it needs an ‘or’ inserted between ‘potato’ and ‘properly’ for me to get it to work. |
||
| 32. | Tortured victim under heartless Roman judges (10) | ||
| CENTUMVIRI | (VICTIM+UN(d)ER)* | ||
| 33. | Rubbish, best in tabloids (7) | ||
| REDTOPS | TOP in REDS(rubbish) | ||
| 34. | Designs instruments for money? (5) | ||
| MEANS | 3 definitions | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Scout breaking into college cupboard? Not one eager to work overtime! (12) | ||
| CLOCKWATCHER | WATCH in (C+LOCKER) | ||
| 2. | Cracks upsetting Marie (5) | ||
| RIMAE | (MARIE)* | ||
| 3. | Contrary to current press release, tremble about losing leader (7) | ||
| UPRIVER | PR in (q)UIVER dubious definition ‘contrary to current’? No matter how far ‘upriver’ you are, there will always be something else further ‘upriver’, so you are down river to that… |
||
| 4. | Hitched, as one who was to Willis B (6) | ||
| MOORED | MOORE+D – pun on Bruce Willis and his ex-wife Demi Moore | ||
| 5. | End of stage thrust exploited to get one closer? (7) | ||
| SHUTTER | ((stag)E+THRUST)* great misleading definition ‘closer’ |
||
| 6. | Group’s outsider possibly providing trail snack (4) | ||
| GORP | ends of GROUP – G or P | ||
| 7. | Band of brothers, not all dynamic usually (6) | ||
| AMICUS | hidden: dynAMIC USually | ||
| 8. | One championing innovation lots moved in to copy (7) | ||
| APOSTLE | (LOTS*) in APE | ||
| 9. | Form of RSI? It is following start of niggle in most of tendon (12) | ||
| NINTENDOITIS | (IT+IS) after (N(iggle)+IN+TENDO(n)) too much video game playing can lead to RSI |
||
| 11. | Recipe No. I, what Aussie has on his plate? (4) | ||
| REGO | R+EGO (No.1, ego) Aussie registration (number) PLATE, another great misleading definition |
||
| 18. | With furrows to cleave turned up speed (7) | ||
| EXARATE | (AXE<)+RATE | ||
| 19. | Man in e.g. Cape Town entering markets for African music (7) | ||
| SOUKOUS | OU(SA slang for man) in SOUKS(market places) | ||
| 20. | Rust-red colouring in work, international according to art circles (7) | ||
| SINOPIA | SA(society of artists)[according to art?] around (IN+OP+I) | ||
| 21. | Taxi for hire in comparatively thin line? (6) | ||
| CABLET | CAB+LET | ||
| 23. | Cultivated cordyline in reserve (6) | ||
| SATIVE | TI in SAVE | ||
| 25. | Booby, one initially avoiding crush, tense (4) | ||
| DOLT | (i)DOL+T | ||
| 27. | Canine? That’s seen on golf club in Scotland perhaps (5) | ||
| CAIRN | C+AIRN(Scottish word for iron) Cairn terrier, a sort of &lit I suppose |
||
| 29. | Grinder: one molar plays this role (4) | ||
| MANO | composite anagram: ONE MOLAR minus ROLE = (NMOA*) | ||
| … | |||
March 18th, 2012 at 7:02 am
Thanks Azed for the usual entertainment and Nick for the blog.
31ac: I see no problem with this structure. I see no more need for “or” between the second and third indications in this clue than between the first and second definitions in 34ac.
3dn: Think of “upriver” in terms of motion rather than position.
20dn: This is sa secundum artem (Latin) according to art – Chambers 2011 p.1368.
March 18th, 2012 at 8:35 am
Thanks both. The Henry in 31a is Fielding but it’s rather good that Hooray fits as well.
March 18th, 2012 at 9:09 am
Thanks both. I found this a bit harder than recent “plains”.
I agree with Pelham B that there’s no need for an “or” or similar in 31a, but that was the clue I was interested in: I’m a bit perplexed by the “give us”; it doesn’t spoil the clue as such but doesn’t seem necessary and given Azed’s usual terseness I wondered if there was something I was missing. I was hoping to find “Hall!” meaning “Give us dinner!” (and not just “dinner”) in Chambers but didn’t. (I also agree with sidey that the primary meaning of “Henry” is Fielding.)
March 18th, 2012 at 10:52 am
A harder than average Azed with some testing word-play to find. I didn’t get it all, I must confess. I disagree with Nick on 33a. I have red + tops – see redd(1).
March 18th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Thanks all
Pretty regular meat from AZ.
I struggled to parse ‘cairn’ otherwise no problems.
I know the protocol so this is very vague:
In today’s (2076) AZ does something I have never seen before.
I very much look forward to the response here.
March 18th, 2012 at 9:55 pm
rcw@5
Most strange, indeed.
March 19th, 2012 at 1:43 am
Agree with RCW and NLinF. Is he losing it? There must be another explanation.
Cheers…
March 19th, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Any other setter would cross-reference but one of the reasons I like AZ is because he rarely does so.